Self-leveling land or underwater station



Sept. 16, 1969 -r. P. FOLEY ETAL 3,466,877

SELF-LEVELING LAND OR UNDERWATER STATION Filed March 17. 1967 WITNESSES INVENTORS Thomas P. Foley 0nd Stomey L. Quick United States Patent 3,466,877 SELF-LEVELING LAND 0R UNDERWATER STATION Thomas P. Foley, Severna Park, and Stanley L. Quiclr,

Annapolis, Md., assignors to Westinghouse Electr1c Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Mar. 17, 1967, Ser. No. 623,931 Int. Cl. E02d 29/00; B63c 11/00 US. Cl. 61-46 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hemispherical foundation member having hollow internal cavities is floated to a desired location in the sea and is caused to descend to the sea bottom with the admission of seawater to the cavities. The hemispherical foundation member includes an open cavity in the form of a cone having its apex in the vicinity of the center of curvature of the hemisphere. A cable connected to the foundation member at the apex of the cone extends vertically toward the surface when the foundation member comes to rest on either level or inclined bases. An underwater station structure having a concave undersurface is either lowered down the vertically extending cable or reels the cable into the station structure as it descends and comes to rest on top of the hemispherical foundation and assumes a horizontal orientation even through the foundation may rest on a sloping seabed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The invention in general relates to static building structures and particularly to a multiunit self-leveling underwater assembly.

Description of the prior art Underwater stations for personnel, scientific equipment or storage are desirable in such areas as offshore drilling, subsea mining, and scientific and military operations. Construction of relatively large underwater stations necessitates a level foundation upon which the station will rest. The construction of an underwater foundation generally requires drilling into the ocean floor, driving piles of caissons, or utilization of explosive embedment devices. In many situations the sloping terrain presents additional problems in construction and equipment demands, and is at times prohibitive due to the great depths at which some stations are to be positioned.

It is a general object of the present invention to obviate the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a structural assembly, particularly well adapted for underwater use, whereby an underwater station may be maintained in a horizontal orientation even where the seabed has a generally sloping characteristic and wherein the need for an in situ construction is eliminated.

Summary of the invention The structural assembly of the present invention includes a foundation member having or defining an upper generally curved surface portion and a lower section for placement on a level or inclined terrestrial base. A second or module member is provided for lowering onto the foundation member and includes an undersection which defines a plurality of contact points or areas for support by the foundation member with the contact points lying in a curved line or curved surface.

For underwater use the foundation member includes an open conical cavity from which a guide member in the form of a cable extends toward the surface and which 3,466,877 Patented Sept. 16, 1969 allows the module member to be properly guided and placed on the foundation member.

Brief description of the drawings The drawing illustrates a structural assembly in crosssectional view and in an assembled state.

Description of the preferred embodiment Although the structural assembly may be used on dry land, it is particularly adapted for underwater applications and its preferred embodiment will be described with respect to such application. In the drawing the foundation 10 includes an upper curved surface portion 12 and a lower section 14 which rests on the seabed 16 having a general slope of 0. The curved surface defines a portion of a sphere and in its preferred embodiment, the foundation 10 is in the form of a hemisphere and includes a central axis X passing through the center of curvature C of the hemisphere.

The foundation 10 may include one or more hollow internal cavities such as 19 and 20 for imparting buoyancy to the foundation 10 whereby it may be floated to a desired location after which means may be activated to impart negative buoyancy by admitting the surrounding seawater to the cavities 19 and 20. This may be accomplished by means of apertures 22 with suitable plug means or other equivalents such as valves for example.

An open cavity in the form of a cone 24 surrounds and extends along the central axis X and has its apex substantially in the vicinity of the center of curvature C and has its central axis lying along the central axis X. A guide member in the form of a cable 26 is provided for connection to the foundation 10 in order to guide module 30 onto the foundation 10.

By means of a surface vessel, or as illustrated in the drawing by means of a subsurface buoy 33 connected to the cable 26, the cable 26 may extend vertically in a continuous line from the apex of the conical cavity 24 vertically toward the surface. With the lower section 14 of the foundation 10 on a horizontal terrestrial base the cable 26 lies along the central axis X which is then in a vertical position. For inclined terrestrial bases the cable 26 will extend vertically from the apex of the conical cavity 24 up to a point where the angle 0 equals angle 0' associated with the cone, and which by way of example may be in the order of 20.

For marking the location of the structural assembly, there is provided a surface buoy 34, the arrangement being such that the subsurface buoy 33 is relatively unaffected by weather conditions at the surface so that relalatively little movement is transmitted down the cable 26 whereas the surface buoy 34 is connected to the buoy 33 in a manner that movement caused by sea swells, winds, etc., is dissipated by the loose connection 36.

The module member 30 may be of any desired structural form preferably symmetrical about its central axis, one such type being illustrated in the drawing wherein the module 30 includes a toroidal station, which may be a living chamber 40 in conjunction with a central web structure 43.

In the preferred embodiment the undersection of the module 30 includes a concave portion 45 for placement over the curved surface 12 of the foundation 10. The undersection of the module 30 defines a plurality of contact points or areas for support by the foundation 10. This may be accomplished by the provision of an annular mating pad 48 whose points of contact lie in a curved line, which for the case of a hemispherical foundation 10, would be a circle which lies on a spherical surface. Obviously other mating arrangements may be provided whereby contact points define a plurality of circles or a curved surface. In applications where the undersurface of the module 30 is placed directly on the foundation 10, the plurality of contact points would form an entire curved surface.

In order to properly lower the module 30 onto the foundation there is provided a central aperture 50 through which the cable 26 passes for limiting lateral movement of the module. In order to control the rate of descent, means in the form of a cable gripping mechanism 52 are provided to function as a braking device. Alternatively, a winch mechanism may be provided for the module with the cable 26 being connected to the Winch mechanism whereby the cable 26 may be reeled in by the winch to relatively bring the module and foundation 10 together.

Although the present invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it should be understood that the present disclosure has been made by way of example and that modifications or variations and other applications of the present invention are made possible in the light of the above teachings.

We claim as our invention:

1. A structural assembly for maintaining a structural member in a predetermined orientation comprising:

(A) a foundation member including (1) an upper generally curved surface portion having associated therewith a central axis,

(2) a lower section for placement on a level or inclined terrestrial base, and

(3) a cavity surrounding and extending along,

said central axis;

(B) a module member for cooperative engagement with said foundation member and including (1) a central web member having an undersection for mating with said foundation member, and

(2) chamber means connected to, and extending about said web member; and

(C) a guide member for connection to the foundation member within said cavity, for guiding the module member onto said foundation member.

2. An assembly according to claim 1 wherein:

(A) the cavity is cone-shaped with the apex of the cone pointing toward the lower section of the foundation member.

3. An assembly according to claim 2 wherein:

(A) the central axis of the cone lies along the central axis of the generally curved surface portion of the foundation member.

4. An assembly according to claim 2 wherein:

(A) the upper generally curved surface portion of the foundation member is a portion of a sphere having a center of curvature and wherein (B) the apex of the cone is located substantially at said center of curvature.

5. An assembly according to claim 1 for underwater use wherein:

(A) the foundation member includes hollow cavity means for imparting buoyancy to the member, whereby the member may :be floated to a desired location; and which additionally includes (B) means for imparting negative buoyancy to the member after said desired location is reached.

6. An assembly according to claim 5 wherein:

(A) the means for imparting negative buoyancy includes means for admitting surrounding water to the cavity means.

7. An assembly according to claim 1 for underwater use on the bed of a body of Water, wherein:

(A) the guide member is a cable extending toward the surface of the body of water;

(B) said cable lying along the central axis when the foundation member is on a level base;

(C) said cable being at an angle with respect to the central axis when the foundation member is on an inclined base.

8. An assembly according to claim 7 wherein:

(A) the web member of the module member includes a central aperture;

(B) the cable passing through said central aperture, whereby the module member may be lowered down the cable for positioning on the foundation member.

9. An assembly according to claim 8 which includes:

(A) cable engagement means mounted on the module member for gripping the cable to regulate the descent of the module member.

10. An assembly according to claim 7 which additionally includes:

(A) a subsurface buoy;

(B) the upper end of the cable being connected to said subsurface buoy;

(C) said subsurface buoy being positioned to be relatively unaffected by surface conditions;

(D) a surface buoy;

(B) said surface buoy being connected to said subsurface buoy for indicating the general location of the structural assembly.

11. An assembly according to claim 1 for underwater use on the bed of a body of water, which includes:

(A) cable means;

(B) winch means;

(C) said winch means being connected to one of the JACOB SHAPIRO, Primary Examiner 

